ASUS PadFone Infinity Hands-On: A Smartphone and Tablet in One

ASUS unveiled the PadFone Infinity, a two-in-one Android-powered device that’s both a smartphone and a tablet, at this year’s Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Spain. The PadFone is not to be confused with the new FonePad, a similarly named device that combines a smartphone and tablet into a single device, rather than the PadFone’s two separate but linked hardware model.

Speeds on the 5-inch smartphone were fast and fluid as we navigated through various homescreens and opened the library of installed application. This power, which is supplied by the 1.7-GHz quad-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 600 processor and 2GB of RAM, is necessary, because the smartphone slides into the back of a 10.1-inch 1920 x 1200 resolution tablet, providing the guts for both devices.

The CPU proved to be plenty of power, since the tablet-browsing experience also went off without a hitch. Even changing from horizontal to vertical orientation was snappy, and this is generally an area where many tablets struggle. Since apps between the phone and tablet are shared, you don’t need to worry about syncing each device in order to get your content. You’ll always have what you need, regardless of device.

Unfortunately, there’s still no plans of bringing the PadFone to the United States. Budget-conscious shoppers may welcome the omission, however, since the PadFone Infinity will retail for 999 Euros, which is little over $1,300.